Newly Named Titanosaur Is The Biggest Dinosaur Yet

The biggest dinosaur yet discovered finally received a name as it is now the Patagotitan mayorum.

Four years ago, a scientist in Argentina found samples from six different individual specimens of dinosaurs. Ever since, researchers have been giving those bones a serious examination. Now, they are ready to give discovered species a name, Patagotitan mayorum. This newly named titanosaur was also proven to be the biggest dinosaur, and the largest land animal, to have ever roamed the Earth. Or at least the largest one discovered as of yet.

Biggest Dinosaur Had the Weight of Ten Elephants

This biggest dinosaur ever discovered is the subject of a study published in the journal Royal Society B. The team examined over 160 different bone fragments. All of them were found in the same quarry in the Patagonia region of Argentina. The researchers estimated this titanosaur’s weight at adulthood to have been of around 76 tons – the same weight as the Space Shuttle. It was over 37 meters or 112 feet long. That is one massive animal, larger than anything ever measured until now.

“All contenders for the largest dinosaur species were similar sized, within a 10 to 15 percent difference,” stated Diego Pol from the Egidio Feruglio paleontology museum in Argentina. “This suggests we are approaching the maximum possible body size for a terrestrial animal, which was unknown until recently, and it is an exciting discovery.”

This newly named Titanosaur drops the previously biggest dinosaur, the Argentinosaurus, down to second place. It too was discovered in a similar part of South America.

This is still only the largest land animal discovered. The blue whale can be as much as 400,000 pounds, while the largest of this species is estimated to weigh in at about 152,000 pounds. It was also registered to reach over 6 meters or 20 feet tall at the shoulder.

Currently, there is a replica of the dinosaur’s skeleton on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Since 2016, it has been greeting the visitors of the museum’s dinosaur section.

Image Source: Flickr

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